Chapter 2: The Secret Room
The police arrived twelve minutes later.
Those twelve minutes felt like twelve years.
I climbed halfway into the opening beneath the floor before the officer grabbed my shoulder.
“Sir, we need to make sure the structure is safe.””
“My son is down there.””
“I understand.””
“No, you don’t.””
My voice broke.
“You don’t understand.””
Because I could hear him.
My little boy.
Calling for me.
“Daddy…”
I looked down again.
Leo’s face appeared in the darkness.
Covered in dust.
His cheeks wet with tears.
“Daddy, I’m scared.””
I reached for him.
“I’m coming, buddy.””
The officer and a firefighter carefully widened the opening.
A few minutes later, they lifted Leo out.
I grabbed him and held him so tightly he started crying.
“I got you,” I whispered.
“I got you.””
He buried his face in my shoulder.
“I was looking for Grandma.””
Everyone became silent.
I looked up.
Elina was standing behind the officers.
“Grandma?”” I repeated.
Leo nodded.
“She told me to come see something.””
My arms tightened around him.
“What did she tell you?””
Leo looked confused.
“She said it was a secret room.””
The color drained from Elina’s face.
“Leo doesn’t know what he’s saying.””
I looked at her.
“You brought him down there?””
“No.””
The answer came too quickly.
“No, David. Absolutely not.””
The firefighter who had gone below climbed back up.
“Mr. Carter?””
I turned.
“Yes?””
He held something wrapped in a plastic bag.
“We found this.””
Inside was a small metal tag.
Old.
Rusty.
A child’s name was engraved on it.
ETHAN MILLER.
My heart raced.
“Who is Ethan Miller?””
Nobody answered.
I looked at Elina.
She looked like she had stopped breathing.
“Do you know that name?””
“No.””
The lie came out immediately.
I stepped closer.
“You do.””
She looked away.
“David, please.””
“Please what?””
My voice echoed through the room.
“My son was trapped under our house.””
“I didn’t trap him.””
“Then explain why he was there.””
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
The police separated us and started asking questions.
One officer, a woman named Ramirez, sat across from me at the kitchen table.
“Mr. Carter, how long has your mother-in-law lived here?””
“About six months.””
“And before that?””
“She visited often.””
“Did she have access to the house?””
I looked toward the living room.
Toward the broken floor.
“Yes.””
Officer Ramirez wrote something down.
“Your daughter said she heard another child?””
I nodded.
“She said there was another shoe.””
The officer glanced at her partner.
“We found evidence of an additional space beneath the house.””
“What kind of space?””
She hesitated.
“A hidden compartment.””
My hands curled into fists.
“A hidden compartment?””
“Yes.””
“Why would my house have that?””
She didn’t answer.
Because she didn’t know.
Or because she did.
Later that evening, Claire arrived.
The moment she saw Leo in my arms, she collapsed into tears.
She hugged him.
Then she looked at me.
“What happened?””
I wanted to answer.
But I didn’t know where to begin.
How do you explain that your daughter heard your missing son crying beneath your floor?
How do you explain your mother-in-law knew something was there?
How do you explain a child’s shoe from a boy nobody had ever mentioned?
Claire listened silently.
When I said Ethan Miller’s name, her expression changed.
“Wait.””
I looked at her.
“You know him?””
She shook her head quickly.
“No.””
But she wasn’t convincing.
“Claire.””
She looked down.
“My mother told me never to talk about him.””
The room went cold.
“Talk about who?””
She closed her eyes.
“David…”
“Who is Ethan Miller?””
Before she could answer, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I picked it up.
A message appeared.
One sentence.
My blood turned cold.
*STOP ASKING ABOUT ETHAN, OR YOU’LL LOSE ANOTHER CHILD.*
I looked up at Claire.
She was staring at my phone.
May you like
Then she whispered something that made my entire body go numb.
“David… Ethan wasn’t my mother’s son.””
